Yo yo yo. I’m off to a retreat for a couple of days, so am posting this for any readers to comment with their jokes, venting, words of wisdom, insight, or whatever you want to talk about. See you in a few days!

I want to offer warm congratulations to the three LHS students who participated in tonight’s National Vocabulary Championship, sponsored by the Game Network, The Princeton Review, and Comcast. Katie Clarke, Casey Bohn, and my own Hillary Tyson represented LHS in the contest (set up like a game show). Of 16,000 kids in the middle Tennessee area, the students with the top 100 scores were invited to participate.

Although none of the three made it to the final round, our students were extraordinary! Katie answered nearly every question correctly, but one person in her group scored one point ahead of her so she didn’t advance. My daughter made it to the sudden death round and regrets not pushing her answer button quickly enough once, thereby not making the final round. And Casey made a fantastic effort as well – and boy did he have some really tough words!

So kudos to our three amazing students! If you’re up late, Fox News and Chanel Four were there doing stories. Also, thanks to Ms. Trobaugh for her help and support.

I didn’t say BOZO, it’s BOZA that we’re talking about here. The fate of the Board of Zoning Appeals is being decided tonight in LaVergne. At first sniff, I liked the idea, however upon consideration I’m not sure I like the absence of an oversight-type of authority over our zoning appeals. This puts all decisions in the hands of the Planning Commission whose members are all appointed by the mayor. The mayor and another alderman have seats on the planning commmission, so they would not just legislate but would also be in a position to stop any appeal. Because you know if you’re appointed by the mayor to serve on a board, you’re going to vote alongside the mayor on whatever issues are brought forth. Now I know that the Mayor has great intentions, but removing oversight can be a slippery slope.

If you live in LaVergne and can make this meeting, I urge you to do so. I have a major family commitment tonight (daughter is in the preliminaries of the National Vocabulary Championship – can’t miss), so I won’t be able to attend. But please please attend if you can. Or call the mayor and let him know your feelings on the issue.

In reference to the post down below, I finally clickedon the Citizens Update newsletter in the left hand column. On page 5 was the schedule that meetings would be televised on channel 3. It also contained when the meetings were taped, so here goes:

Board of Mayor & Aldermen (7 p.m. the first Tuesday of the month)

Planning Commission (6:15 p.m. the second Tuesday of the month)

Board of Zoning Appeals (5:15 p.m. the second Tuesday of the month)

Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee (6 p.m. the third Monday of the month)

Greenway Advisory Committee (7 p.m. the third Monday of every other month, beginning in January)

I am glad to see Mayor Erwin is saying LaVergne is more focused now on retail:

As La Vergne moves ahead, city officials are planning for a different type of growth — more retail, more restaurants and even more housing.

Sandwiched as it is between commercial developments in neighboring Nashville and Smyrna, it can be hard for La Vergne to catch the eye of major chains. It was a big deal for the city to attract its first Taco Bell this year.

City planners are eyeing land south of Interstate 24 for new residential development. This time, they are encouraging developers to plan for less density.

“We’ve got enough small homes on smaller lots. There’s nothing wrong with it, with being small, it’s just we’ve got a lot of it,” Erwin said.

However, the “even more housing” comment kind of frosted my butt. My advice, don’t just encourage developers to plan for less density – demand it, require it, insist upon it. This is YOUR town and YOUR planning commission, and YOU ARE working for the people who already live here. So do what the people ask you to do. Now my directive would be for YOU THE PEOPLE to contact the city and tell them exactly what you want. Show up at their meetings, call your aldermen and alderwomen, contact your mayor.

And one last suggestion, could you PLEASE put on the LaVergne web page WHEN public meetings are scheduled?! I’ve search for the last 20 minutes trying to find when the workshops are scheduled, as well as regular board meetings. Though I’m certain this is just an oversight (ahem), it rather gives the impression that you want to keep the public out. I did click on your calendar, LaVergne, and the only date with an event marked was January 1, 2008. It said “New Year’s Day.”

Just a quick reminder that the Middle Tennessee Bloggers and Podcasters Group meeting is today at 2:00 p.m. We’re having a potluck, so you now have a great way to ditch your Thanksgiving leftovers! The meeting is in the conference room of Bob Parks Realty at 557 Sam Ridley Parkway in Smyrna.

See you there!!

Here’s a picture of some of us last year at the pumpkin farm. A nice, normal bunch of people who just like hanging out. From left: Mark who is always quick to volunteer to help someone in need, Kathy T. author and annoyer, Ivy who is an innovator that started Home-Ec 101 and Music City Bloggers, Chip one of the greatest friends someone can have, and M. the highly skilled web and computer diva who started the bloggers group.